- Europol supported an action across eight countries targeting criminal groups involved in VAT fraud amounting to EUR 85 million.
- One of the alleged ringleaders was arrested during the operation.
- Seizures included 1,800 AirPods, cash, luxury cars, a luxury watch, and a jammer.
- The investigation, code-named ‘Goliath’, was led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in Hamburg, Germany, with the support of Europol and law enforcement authorities in several countries.
- The investigation focused on two criminal organizations involved in the international trade of consumer electronics, specifically AirPods.
- The suspects evaded tax through a VAT carousel fraud scheme.
- The estimated loss to the EU and national budgets is at least EUR 85 million.
- The suspects established companies in Germany and other EU Member States, as well as non-EU countries, to trade goods through a fraudulent chain of missing traders.
- Other companies in the fraudulent chain claimed VAT reimbursements from national tax authorities.
- The EPPO and Europol established connections between the suspects and the companies involved in the fraudulent schemes.
- Europol deployed a specialist to facilitate information exchange and crosscheck data during the operation.
- Multiple law enforcement authorities from various countries participated in the operation.
Source: europol.europa.eu
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
